A year in the life of our Miss Riley

Riley took me for an afternoon walk around the house. She was most put out that I kept her from going down to the street to investigate the car parked at our curb, as she was very intrigued by its presence.

After yesterday, today was a good day. I went up to the vet’s to pick up a cortisone and vitamin shot for Riley. She didn’t want to eat much this morning, but she did eat tonight. She stuck by me all day, and it was good to have her company with me in my office — plus she was close enough for me to keep an eye on. We took quite a few walks as well.

The house across the street is getting remodeled, and today it was a hive of activity — forklifts and flatbed trucks and all sorts of noise that intruded on my workday. Riley, of course, slept through all the commotion, but later when we went for our afternoon retrieve the mail/sniff the bush around the mailbox trip, the materials the workers left out really caught her eye, and she stood there for about five minutes, just staring. I’m sure if I had let her she would have crossed the street and licked everything.

Riley has really taken to her ramp! After walking her down it a few times on the leash with me also on the ramp, she now goes down on her own. She even stopped halfway down once to sniff something that caught her attention. As my best friend said, “An old dog can learn new tricks!”

This morning when I took Riley out, I got a bit of a shock from a literal snake in the grass. I was reaching down to examine some violets that are cropping up all over our lawn, and boom, there was a garter snake that I thought was a stick. And Riley had just walked over that same spot. Poor thing probably came out to sun itself and didn’t expect to get stomped by a dog. I poked it with a stick and it took off into the lilies. Better that than have Riley get too interested in it.

Later today there was more excitement. Our energy company was out doing routine safety checks and found a gas leak in our pipeline. Suddenly there were a half-dozen trucks and about 15 dudes swarming in my street. The guys were really nice and the ones who had to come talk to me or check the house were only too happy to give Riley the attention that is her due as a spoiled princess. We’re all safe and happy in our home tonight.